Assembly with LED housing

ABSTRACT

An assembly includes an LED with two conductive leads, two conductive wires in which an insulator surrounds a conductor, and a housing. The two conductive wires are inserted into and held by a wire cavity of the housing. Each of the two conductive leads is inserted into a different LED lead hole of the housing. Electrical contact is made by each of the two conductive leads with the conductor of one of the two conductive wires and the LED is held by the housing. The conductive leads can have a sharp point that penetrates the insulator and the conductor when the LED is inserted into the housing. The LED can be seated in a LED cavity of the housing while insertion of the LED into the LED cavity creates an interference fit in which conductive portions of the wires opposite the exposed conductors are compressed against the housing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 13/294,095,filed Nov. 10, 2011, entitled Solder-Less Electrical Assembly andProcess for its Manufacture, the disclosure of which is specificallyincorporated herein by reference. This application is related to twoother patent applications being filed the same day that are alsocontinuation-in-part applications of U.S. Ser. No. 13/294,095, thedisclosures of which are also incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of solder-less electricalassemblies.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electrical assemblies have long used lead solder to help make and keepelectrical connections. However, use of solder, and especially leadsolder, has come under increasing criticism due to environmentalconcerns.

The present invention is especially well-suited for, but not limited touse in, footwear, wearing apparel and toys. For an electrical assemblyto be useful in such fields it must be compact and inexpensive tomanufacture. This means that both the number of parts, as well as thenumber of manufacturing steps, must be kept to the bare minimum if oneis to be competitive in the world today.

The present invention advances simple, compact and easy to manufactureelectrical assemblies that are well-suited for use in a variety ofapplications, including footwear, apparel and toys.

The present invention improves upon prior inventions of the sameinventor, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,147,337 and 8,004,856.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to an assembly whichincludes an LED with two conductive leads, two conductive wires in whichan insulator surrounds a conductor, and a housing. The two conductivewires are inserted into and held by a wire cavity of the housing. Eachof the two conductive leads is inserted into a different LED lead holeof the housing. Electrical contact is made by each of the two conductiveleads with the conductor of one of the two conductive wires and the LEDis held by the housing.

The conductive leads can have a sharp point that penetrates theinsulator and the conductor when the LED is inserted into the housing.The LED can be seated in a LED cavity of the housing while insertion ofthe LED into the LED cavity creates an interference fit in whichconductive portions of the wires opposite the exposed conductors arecompressed against the housing. A conductive wire can also be held in aresilient housing by an interference fit between the conductor and thehousing. The LED lead holes can be channels to guide each of the two LEDleads into alignment (and/or move them closer together or further apart)so as to create the electrical contact and such alignment need not beperpendicular to the two wires. Multiple LEDs can be mounted on a pairof conductive wires, with one LED mounted at the termination of suchwires, and no solder is required in any such assembly.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to providean improved assembly useful with LEDs.

This and further objects and advantages will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art in connection with the drawings and the detaileddescription of the invention set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded assembly drawing illustrating one electricalassembly according to the present invention while FIG. 2 is a crosssectional view of the assembly of FIG. 1 in an unexploded state.

FIG. 3 illustrates a battery block of the electrical assembly of FIG. 1showing the block with its battery removed, looking into a side viewfrom the direction in which a battery would be inserted,

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded view of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is an assembled view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the electrical assembly of FIG. 1. FIGS. 6A-6Cillustrate contact being made between a PCB trace and a wire with a slitin its insulative covering.

FIG. 7 is a partially exploded view of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 illustrates the electrical assembly shown in FIG. 1 in a closedstate, with multiple LEDs held in multiple wires of a ribbon wire.

FIG. 9 illustrates an LED block which holds an LED at an end of a wirepair while

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a top view of an LED block illustrating how the LED leads arealigned to connect with the wire while

FIG. 12 illustrates the wire pair inserted into the LED block and howthe LED leads will align with conductive members of the wire pair.

FIG. 13 is a side view of an LED block showing an LED to be insertedwhile FIG. 13 a shows an alternative embodiment to FIG. 13 in which theLED lead cavities are angled to facilitate alignment.

FIG. 14 illustrates its insertion.

FIG. 15 illustrates how an LED block can channel and align LED leads tomake contact with conductive members of a wire pair while

FIG. 16 illustrates insertion of an LED into an end of a wire pair.

FIG. 17 illustrates an interconnector of two ribbon wires.

FIG. 18 is an exploded view of the interconnector while

FIG. 19 is a phantom side view of FIG. 17, assembled and connected.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention details how various parts can easily be assembledwithout the use of solder. Although not limited to a final assembly, thepresent invention is especially well suited to assembly of a packageuseful for controlling lighting of multiple light emitting diodes(“LEDs”) through movement, which itself is useful in a variety ofproducts, such as, for example, footwear, clothing and toys. It bearsnote, however, that techniques and assemblies described herein inconnection with such usage can be applied to many additional fields.

In the Figures and the following description, number designationsindicate various features of the invention, with like numberdesignations referring to like features throughout both the drawings andthe description. Although the Figures are described in greater detailbelow, the following is a glossary of the elements identified in theFigures.

GLOSSARY

-   1 electrical assembly-   10 battery-   10 b bottom surface of battery 10-   10 n negative surface of battery 10-   10 s side surface of battery 10-   11 battery block-   12 battery opening (in battery block 11)-   13 column-   15 conductor-   15.1 first lead of conductor 15-   15.2 second lead of conductor 15-   16 conductor-   16.1 first lead of conductor 16-   16.2 second lead of conductor 16-   17 top surface-   18 bottom surface-   19 PCB opening (in battery block 11)-   20 switch assembly-   20.1 first switch assembly lead-   20.2 second switch assembly lead-   30 printed circuit board (“PCB”)-   31 radius (in PCB 30)-   32 conductive traces and pads-   33 electronics-   40 ribbon block assembly-   41 ribbon block-   42 PCB opening (in ribbon block 41)-   43 ribbon opening (in ribbon block 41)-   50 ribbon wire assembly-   51 conductive wire-   52 insulative covering (surrounding a conductive wire 51)-   53 stripped portion of insulative covering 52-   60 light emitting diode (“LED”)-   61.1 first LED lead-   61.2 second LED lead-   62 sharp pin point-   65 LED base-   70 LED block-   71 wire hole-   72 LED lead cavity-   73 cavity (in which LED 60 is seated)-   74 stress reliever-   100 outer case-   101 case cover-   102 case bottom-   103 male member-   104 female member

FIG. 1 illustrates an assembly, shown generally as 1, that has multiplesubcomponents that are assembled together—one or more batteries 10, abattery block 11, a switch assembly 20, a PCB 30, a ribbon blockassembly 40, and two conductors, 15 and 16. The ribbon block assembly 40may have its own subassemblies attached to its other end, and/or supportmultiple LEDs in parallel, as will be discussed below.

Battery 10, in an especially preferred embodiment, is a lithium 3 voltbutton cell battery. This type of battery allows positive electricalcontact to be made with its upper negative surface 10 n and positiveelectrical contact to be made with either its side surfaces 10 s or itsbottom surface 10 b. In an alternative embodiment, more than one batterycan be stacked on top of each other.

Battery block 11, shown in FIGS. 3-5, in an especially preferredembodiment, is molded from resilient material, such as plastic. Twoconductors, 15 and 16, are attached to battery block 11 in either one ortwo assembly steps. Conductors 15 and 16 can be forced through a wall ofbattery block 11 or preformed holes or pilot holes (not shown) can beused to assist in this assembly step. Conductors 15 and 16, which mightbe thought of as resembling u-shaped staples, are made of electricallyconductive materials and each has two leads that extend down into aninterior cavity of battery block where they will make electrical contactas is described later. In one embodiment of the invention, conductors 15and 16 are staples that are assembled by a stapling step.

After conductors 15 and 16 have been assembled to battery block 11,battery 10 is inserted into battery opening 12 formed in battery block11 where it will be held in place by an interference fit. Duringinsertion of battery 10 into battery opening 12, first lead 15.1 ofconductor 15 will come into contact with negative surface 10 n ofbattery 10 and be bent over due to the insertion process (see FIG. 6) tosecure electrical contact with the battery. Bending first lead 15.1, inan especially preferred embodiment, also assists with creating a moresecure interference fit to hold battery 10 in place due to resiliency ofthe battery block material which forces now bent first lead 15.1 againstbattery 10. During the same insertion step first lead 16.1 of conductor16 will make positive electrical contact with battery 10 and, in anespecially preferred embodiment, the electrical contact will be madewith a side surface 10 s of battery 10. Making electrical contact withside surface 10 s is especially preferred because it allows bothconductors 15 and 16 to be assembled to the same surface of batteryblock 11, although conductor 16 could alternatively be assembled to abottom surface and make electrical contact with bottom surface 10 b ofbattery 10 in the same manner as was done with electrical conductor 15and negative surface 10 n.

FIGS. 3-5 show an especially preferred embodiment of the presentinvention in which three columns or ribs 13 help stabilize battery block10 when a PCB 30 is inserted into PCB opening 19 in battery block 11.Each column 13 provides structural support to prevent top surface 17from bowing away from bottom surface 18, thus helping to maintainelectrical contacts with PCB 30, and PCB 30 has channels (see FIG. 4)that are designed to receive columns 13 to provide a mating fit. In anespecially preferred embodiment, each frictionally formed electricallead (e.g., 15.1 and 16.1) is supported by its own unique channel ofresilient housing formed by at least one column 13 and each uniquechannel is independently resilient.

After battery 10 is inserted into battery block 11, switch assembly 20can be assembled to battery block 11. Switch assembly 20 can be designedso that it fits into an opening in battery block 11 and can be held inplace by an interference fit. Switch assembly 20 has first and secondswitch assembly leads 20.1 and 20.2 that extend into PCB opening 19 inbattery block 11. Switch assembly 20 can be constructed so that itextends above battery block 11, as shown in FIG. 1, although it ispreferable that the top of switch assembly 20 is flush with batteryblock 11 so as to make a more compact assembled module. Also, althoughFIG. 1 shows the opening in which switch assembly block 20 is insertedhas three sides, it need not be so, and could instead be a four-sidedopening formed near the end of battery block 11 where PCB 30 isinserted. The details of switch assembly 20 are not critical to thepresent invention, and any number of different switch assemblies can beused, an example of which is U.S. Pat. No. 7,347,577, the details ofwhich are specifically incorporated herein by reference.

After switch assembly 20 has been assembled to battery block 11 (seeFIG. 1), PCB 30 is inserted into PCB opening 19. PCB 30 can carry avariety of electronics, shown generally as 33, to control electricalfunction of electrical assembly 1. (Electronics 33 can include, but donot necessarily need to include, a microprocessor.) Electronics 33 canbe pre-mounted on PCB 30 before PCB is assembled to battery block 11.PCB 30 has multiple conductive traces 32 aligned so that when PCB 30 isinserted into PCB opening 19 they will make electrical contact withsecond lead 15.2 of conductor 15, second lead 16.2 of conductor 16, andfirst and second switch assembly leads 20.1 and 20.2, and it isespecially preferred that insertion of PCB 30 causes leads 15.2 and 16.2to bend over so as to secure electrical contact and also assist withcreating an interference fit. PCB 30, in an especially preferredembodiment, has a radius 31 (FIG. 4) that increases the surface area forcontact and PCB 30 is held within battery block 11 by an interferencefit. Because battery block 11 is made of a resilient material, once PCB30 has been inserted into PCB opening 19 and the four leads areelectrically connected, the housing will bias the leads, each in its ownunique channel, against their respective conductive members of PCB 30.PCB 30 can also have either male or female mating members (not shown)designed to mate in a snap fit fashion with corresponding female or malemating members in either or both of battery block 11 and ribbon block41. Alternatively, and in an especially preferred embodiment, PCB 30does not have any male or female mating members and, instead, batteryblock 11 and ribbon block 41 snap fit together, holding PCB 30 inside,so as to create a small, self-contained module that can be used, forexample, in footwear, clothing and other uses. Such a module can havetransparent or translucent walls and also contain one or more LEDspositioned within such walls that can be seen through the walls when themodule is appropriately positioned in footwear, clothing or the like.

After PCB 30 is inserted into PCB opening 19 of battery block 11 it isthen inserted into PCB opening 42 of ribbon block 41, although the orderof such assembly steps can be reversed.

Ribbon block assembly 40 is an assembly of ribbon block 41 and ribbonwire assembly 50. Ribbon wire assembly 50 has at least one conductivewire 51, and usually groups of multiple conductive wires 51, each ofwhich has an insulative covering 52 surrounding it, with a portion ofinsulative covering 52 being stripped away (shown as 53 in FIG. 7) so asto allow electrical contact to be made with the conductive wire. It isespecially preferred that insulative covering 52 is only stripped awaywhere electrical contact is to be made with the conductive wire and theback half of insulative covering 52 remains in place, as such backcovering will assist in making a more secure electrical contact uponassembly when it is compressed by a forced connection between theexposed area of the conductive wire and the electrical conductor memberto which it is being electrically connected.

Ribbon block assembly 40 is inserted into ribbon opening 43 of ribbonblock 41 where it is held in place by an interference fit. Once PCB 30is fully inserted into PCB opening 42, conductive traces 32 will makeelectrical contact with conductive wires 51 at exposed portions 53 ofinsulative covering 52 (see FIG. 6). It has been found that suchelectrical contact can be made without the need to use through hole PCBconnections, which reduces the cost of the PCB 30 needed in accordancewith the present invention, by causing the exposed conductive wire to bebent over a top of PCB 30. (While it has been found that through holePCB connections are not required for use with ribbon wire LEDs, to bedescribed later, there may be other uses of electrical assemblies inwhich through hole PCB connections might be desirous, and such apossibility would still be within the scope of the present invention).It also bears note that the electrical connections formed between PCB 30and both battery 10 and switch assembly 20 also do not require the useof through hole PCB connections. Finally, in an especially preferredembodiment, instead of stripping insulative covering 52 away, a slit ismade in insulative covering 52 and then electrical contact is madebetween a conductive wire and a conductive trace 32 of a top surface ofPCB 30, as is illustrated in FIGS. 6A-6C.

As is illustrated in FIGS. 17-19, two pairs of conductive wires can beconnected together by a common housing, each of the pair of wires havingan exposed area at its terminating end which overlaps the exposed areaof the other pair of wires, both pairs of wires being held in thehousing by an interference fit so that each pair of wires extends out ofits own side of the housing and the two pairs of conductive wires arepositioned in an end-to-end relationship relative to each other.

Electrical assembly 1 of the present invention has many distinctadvantages.

One major advantage of electrical assembly 1 is that it can be assembledwithout the use of any solder. This represents a significant advantage,especially as there is more and more concern about environmental effectsof solder.

Another major advantage of electrical assembly 1 is ease ofmanufacturing and assembly, which greatly reduces cost. Because solderis not required, no soldering iron steps are required, thus reducingcost. Also, electrical assembly 1 can be manufactured from subcomponentswith just six assembly steps without using separate connecting parts,which greatly reduces its cost of manufacture. In a similar fashion,multiple PCBs can be electrically connected together in a singleelectrical assembly in which multiple PCBS are interconnected by use ofone or more ribbon block assemblies.

Electrical assembly 1 is particularly well suited for use inapplications where it can be used to power LEDs, some examples of whichinclude footwear, clothing and strings of LEDs. In such a use one ormore LEDs 60 can be assembled to electrical assembly 1, without the useof solder, by using a wire block assembly for each LED, which will nowbe described.

Each LED 60 can be assembled to its own pair of conductive wires 51 ormultiple LEDs can be assembled on a single pair of conductive wires 51(see FIG. 8). In an especially preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, LED leads end with a sharp pin point 62 (see FIG. 13) whichis useful in piercing an insulative covering 52 of conductive wires 51.

In accordance with an especially preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, an LED block 70 (see FIG. 10) has a wire hole 71 into which apair of conductive wires 51 for a single LED 60 is inserted. In anespecially preferred embodiment, illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10, LEDblock 70 has a stress reliever 74 that extends outwardly around wirehole 71 to lessen stress that might otherwise be exerted upon a pair ofconductive wires 51 inserted into LED block 70. When multiple LED blocks70 are to be used on a pair of conductive wires 51, the blocks can bealigned along the pair of conductive wires 51 before LEDs 70 areinserted into each LED block 70. Because multiple LED blocks 70 can beused on a single pair of conductive wires 51, a large number of LEDs 70can be supported by a single electrical assembly. For example,electrical assembly 1 can be used to support a ribbon block assembly 40that has four pairs of conductive wires 51, each of which has up to nine(or more) LED blocks 70, which means the total assembly can support 36or more LEDs, in a very inexpensive, yet reliable, assembly.

After a pair of conductive wires 51 is firmly in place in an LED block70, first and second LED leads 61.1 and 61.2 of an LED 60 are eachbrought down and inserted into LED lead cavities 72 of LED block 70. LEDlead cavities 72 can be designed to adjust the spacing of LED leads 61.1and 61.2 and self-align them for insertion into a pair of conductivewires 51. Such self-alignment can be accomplished, for example, byforcing LED leads 61.1 and 61.2 together by narrowing the width of LEDlead cavities 72 when the width between LED leads 61.1 and 61.2 isgreater than the width of the pair of conductive wires 51 where theywill make contact (see FIG. 13 a). Also, if the width of the LED leads61.1 and 61.2 is narrower than the width of the pair of conductive wires51, then LED lead cavities 72 could be used to force LED leads 61.1 and61.2 further apart and into alignment. As noted earlier, each lead 61.1and 61.2 has a sharp pin point 62 that facilitates insertion of theleads through insulative covering 52 of conductive wires 51. Wire hole71 and LED lead cavities 72, in an especially preferred embodiment (seeFIG. 13), intersect at a right angle. Alternatively, the angle can vary(see FIGS. 11 and 12), or wire hole 71 and LED lead cavities 72 can evenmeet straight on (see FIG. 16), although such configurations are notpreferred.

Accordingly, the present invention allows many LEDs to be used in avariety of applications without the need for any solder whatsoever andsuch construction can be achieved by a simple assembly process thatgreatly reduces manufacturing cost. This represents a significantadvantage over prior art techniques, especially when many LEDs are beingcombined and electrically connected in parallel on a single pair ofconductive wires 51.

So far the present disclosure has disclosed how a number ofsub-assemblies can be assembled quickly, simply, and economicallywithout the use of solder. A further embodiment will now be disclosed inwhich electrical assembly 1 is placed inside of an outer case 100 whichcan conveniently be constructed of plastic. As illustrated in FIG. 2,outer case 100 has case bottom 102 in which electrical assembly 1 isplaced and case cover 101 which is then closed complete a sealed case.In an especially preferred embodiment, either case cover 101 or casebottom 102 has one or male members 103 designed to mate with counterpartone or more female members 104 found in its opposite member. The matingof one or more male and female members serves as an alignment guide aswell as increasing structural integrity of a sealed case. Afterelectrical assembly 1 is inserted into case bottom 102 and case cover101 is closed, the case can be sonic welded. Wires 50 extend out of thesealed case, with the case acting both to insulate electrical assembly 1and also to help insure the structural integrity of ribbon blockassembly 40 which is now bent over ninety degrees by closing of casecover 101 and held in place by the sonic welding (see FIG. 2). (It isalso further possible that sonic welding can cause insulative covering52 of conductive wires 51 to weld to the parts of case 100, thuscreating an even stronger bond, and making it less likely for ribbonwire assembly 50 to move in future use.)

Accordingly, the present invention discloses a simple, cost-effectiveelectrical assembly and process of manufacture that is environmentallyfriendly and, in an especially preferred embodiment, well suited for usewith LEDs. Moreover, the electrical assembly is compact and sturdy andwell suited for use in a variety of applications, including for use infootwear and clothing.

Although the foregoing detailed description is illustrative of preferredembodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood thatadditional embodiments thereof will be obvious to those skilled in theart. For example, it is possible to connect multiple electricalassemblies 1 together so that a single switch assembly 20 triggersmultiple chains of LEDs to activate at the same time. Such an assemblywill be particularly useful for footwear and other applications wheresize and cost is important, but it is desired that a large number ofLEDs (e.g., twelve), light at the same time. In addition, it is possiblethat multiple batteries can be aligned next to each other, instead of ontop of each other, where there is more concern about vertical height ofan assembled unit than horizontal length of the unit. Also, electricalcomponents with multiple leads, instead of LEDs, can be connected to apair of conductive wires using an electrical component block thatapplies the principals stated herein to such components. Furthermodifications are also possible in alternative embodiments withoutdeparting from the inventive concept.

Accordingly, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the artthat still further changes and modifications in the actual conceptsdescribed herein can readily be made without departing from the spiritand scope of the disclosed inventions as defined by the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An assembly, comprising: a pair of conductivewires, each of which is comprised of a conductor and an insulator; and ahousing; wherein each of the pair of conductive wires is held in thehousing by an interference fit between its conductor and the housing;wherein each of the pair of conductive wires has an exposed area whichis not insulated by an insulator; wherein when the exposed area of eachof the pair of conductive wires is forced into contact with its ownelectrical conductor member and its insulator is compressed by theforced connection between the exposed area and the electrical conductormember; wherein the electrical conductor member is a printed circuitboard conductor; wherein the exposed area makes an electrical contactwith the printed circuit board conductor without the need to use athrough hole printed circuit board connection; and wherein theelectrical contact is made by causing the exposed area to be bent over atop of the printed circuit board.
 2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein theexposed area is formed by a slit in the insulator.
 3. The assembly ofclaim 1 wherein the exposed area is formed by a stripping away a portionof the insulator.
 4. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the printedcircuit board conductor is located on a printed circuit board (“PCB”)held by the housing and the housing is resilient.
 5. The assembly ofclaim 4, wherein the PCB is held by an interference fit in a cavity ofthe housing.
 6. The assembly of claim 5, further comprising a batteryheld by a battery interference fit in a battery cavity of the housing.7. The assembly of claim 6, wherein insertion of the battery into thebattery cavity to form the battery interference fit forces a pair ofbattery contacts into electrical contact with the battery.
 8. Theassembly of claim 7, further comprising a switch held by a switchinterference fit with the housing, said switch having a first switchlead in electrical contact with a first switch conductive member of thePCB and a second switch lead in electrical contact with a second switchconductive lead of the PCB.